Novena Prayer to St. Emilie de Rodat
Foundress of the Congregation of the
Holy Family
DAY
9- Peace, Hope and Joy -18th September
St. Emilie wanted her Sisters to
live in peace, in hope and in joy.
Here’s what she has to say:
“May
God grant me the gift to hope in Him alone,
To
rely only on my humble prayer and upon acts of charity.”
“Be
of good cheer, God is with you. He will
sustain you.”
“Live
a carefree life and one of peace, dare I say, of humility.”
“Let
us tread our little path with confidence, with peace and of course, with inner
joy.”
“May
joy, peace, fervour and union make you all one heart and one soul.”
“Even
though you fall again into your old faults, do not get discouraged; begin
again. Let us go to Him in love with a
fresh desire to belong entirely to God.”
“You
should rejoice in the inspirations God give s you and use them as a means of
growth.”
“Have
peace and joy, happy to fulfil God’s Will.”
“Rejoice
to be called to visit the suffering members of Jesus Christ and to offer them
words of consolation.”
“It
is only in the spirit of sacrifice that we find peace and joy.”
“Try
not to entertain any sad thought in your mind but, on the contrary, rejoice at
being able to work for God’s glory….“Be joyful and happy; drive far from you
all sadness.”
“I
wish you every happiness, but especially unlimited in trust in God. We do not understand how much the Lord loves
us, how much care He takes of us. If it
were given us to understand, I assure you that discouragement would not find a
place in us; on the contrary, we would rejoice at the little troubles of life.”
“Let
us live in peace and in hope….Let us hope a lot: God will guide everything.”
Prayer to St. Emilie
St.
Emilie, your great confidence in God’s tremendous love for us was the source of
your peace, your hope and your joy, even in the midst of difficulties and
problems in life and in the apostolate.
Intercede
for us, so that in our day to day living, we may hold fast to God’s
unconditional love for us and draw from it, deep peace, constant hope and inner
joy in our hearts and in all we do for God’s glory as we serve our brothers and
sisters.
St.
Emilie, pray for us.
Novena Prayer to St. Emilie de
Rodat
Foundress of the Congregation
of the Holy Family
DAY 8 - The Cross, Death and Resurrection- 17th September
St. Emilie is well acquainted with suffering in
her life. Here’s what she has to say.
“There are
troubles that only God knows and for which human beings have no remedy.”
“What can I
say to you, except to tell you to listen in your hearts to these words of our
Saviour: Let those who want to come
after me, renounce themselves, carry their cross each day of their lives and
follow me.”
“The cross
has been the prerogative of the saints: may it be ours too, and let us carry it
in such a way that through our patience it may become for us a source of
salvation.”
“The
essential thing is to stay united to God, even in the midst of the greatest
trials, in our moments of sorrow and when we encounter setbacks.”
“Since we
cannot bear to do great mortifications, we should welcome the little and
continual ones that come a thousand times daily.”
“Accept
with a good heart our occasions of suffering both small and great in body and
soul. …The best of all means to cure our ills is to embrace the Cross
wholeheartedly.”
“Try to
remember the extreme agony Our Saviour endured for all of us. Unite your sufferings to His…..Seek your
strength and consolation near the Cross.”
“Intensify
your fervour and remember the Good Lord only permits the trials you are
enduring to unite you more intimately with Him.”
“Through
the humiliations that God sent me, I became more like Jesus Christ.”
“I wish you
with all my heart the joy that Our Saviour’s resurrection brings. Let us rejoice in Him. L He has won the
victory for us and we enjoy the fruits of that victory.”
Prayer to St.
Emilie
St.
Emilie, you encountered in your life, trials and sufferings of body and soul
but you embraced them wholeheartedly, uniting your sufferings with that of
Jesus on the Cross, from which you derived your strength and consolation.
Help us to
welcome the daily crosses in our lives with that same faith and love so
that our sufferings may unite us more
intimately to Jesus and transform us more and more into His image and
likeness.
Help us not
to fear setbacks and difficulties as we try to do our mission in revealing
God’s love and be witnesses of the Good News of Jesus Christ in the place we
live and in the world. Amen.
St.
Emilie, pray for us.
Novena Prayer to St. Emilie de
Rodat
Foundress of the Congregation
of the Holy Family
DAY 7 - Mercy and Compassion- 16th September
For St. Emilie,
“Everything about Jesus Christ cries out to us of mercy”.
Words of Jesus in the Gospel:
“Happy the merciful, for mercy shall be shown
to them.” (Matthew5:7)
“The Son of Man has come to seek out and save
what was lost.” (Luke 19:10)
“Has no one condemned you? I don’t condemn you either. Go, and from now on, sin no more.” (John 8:10-11)
“Be merciful as your heavenly Father is
merciful” (Luke 6:36)
For He sends the sun to shine on bad and good
people alike, and gives rain to those who do good and to those who do
evil.” (Matthew 5:46)
Here is
what St. Emilie has to say about mercy and compassion:
“What I
want most of all is for you to listen often to these words of our Saviour in
the bottom of your heart: Happy are the merciful, for they shall be
treated with mercy.
Let us ask
God that we may really understand these words and put them into practice; if we
are fortunate in this way, we will soon be perfect; we will have that charity
which excuses everything, which bears everything, which never complains even
when it is made to suffer, and which carefully avoids making others suffer.”
“Blessed
are the merciful, that is, those who endure patiently their neighbour’s
weakness and faults, who share their troubles and sorrows, who help others as
much as they are able, in short, those who are all things to all people. Those who act in this way will have mercy
shown them.”
Let us now pause for little while and look at
Rembrandt’s painting of the Return of the Prodigal Son. Let us immerse ourselves in the mercy and
compassion of God, our loving Father.
Prayer to St.
Emilie
St. Emilie, you who knew how to be compassionate towards your neighbours
by detecting their miseries, noticing their needs, and putting your trust in
God alone, come to the aid of all people.
Teach us mercy and compassion.
Show us how to open our hearts to the distresses of our day. Help us to get ourselves more involved in the
service of our brothers and sisters, especially the poorest of the poor.
O Lord, who inspired and upheld St. Emilie lduring her life on earth,
allow her to continue in heaven her works of spiritual and corporal mery so
that through her you may be blessed and praised in time and in eternity. St.
Emilie, pray for us.
Novena Prayer to St. Emilie de
Rodat
Foundress of the Congregation
of the Holy Family
DAY 6- Gentleness, Simplicity, Humility - 15th September
St. Emilie’s three favourite virtues are: gentleness, simplicity and humility. Here’s what she said:
“Simplicity
is my favourite virtue…. Go to God in humility, simplicity, confidence and
love. That is the road you must take;
you will not go astray.”
“Jesus does
not say to us in the Gospel: ‘Learn from me how to work miracles, how to spend
the night in prayer or how to fasting’; what he does say to us all is:
‘Learn of me for I am gentle and humble of
heart’
“Gentleness
and humility are two virtues very dear to Jesus, and everyone can practice
them. We know by our own experience that
we have often obtained by a gentle approach what we should never have obtained
by severity.”
“Be gentle
in your speech; it should be amiable and cordial. Never say a word that could hurt someone.”
“Proud
people believe they are enlightened more than others; they hold to their reasoning. If they make a mistake they never admit it.”
“We never
see a humble person judging his neighbour rashly or speaking of his
faults. When a person is humble, she
mistrusts her ideas and takes time to weigh her words.”
Because of
pride, we must make acts of humility every day, every moment of the day. Try with all your strength…. To succeed in
conquering our ‘old self’, we have work to do: we have to declare war on our
evil inclination. We have to replace our
faults by virtues – and that is not easy.
God loves
those who are simple, those who are humble.
Be one of them.”…..“Walk in the spirit of humility, remembering that we
must become as little children to enter the Kingdom of heaven.”
“Humility,
always humility in your thoughts, in your words and actions: humility in all
your conduct.”
“Seek to be
unknown, counted for nothing. Choose the
last place always and everywhere.
Believe me; we are in a happy state if we can accept to be despised and
to be regarded as nothing”
“We should
become like violets on the wayside. They
are there, hidden and beautiful. There
is no risk of being carried away by wind and storm; whereas tall trees could be
knocked down or entirely uprooted. Let
us be like the violets, do not let us aspire to be trees exposed to the winds.”
“May Jesus,
gentle and humble of heart, be your model.
It is in imitating Him that you find true peace for your soul.”
Let us
“reproduce in our behaviour, the virtues which were practiced in the humble
house of Nazareth
Prayer to St. Emilie
Novena Prayer to St. Emilie de
Rodat
Foundress of the Congregation
of the Holy Family
DAY 5 Prayer 14th September
Like all the saints, prayer is vitally important to
St. Emilie. Let’s listen to what she
said about prayer.
“Prayer is a conversation of the
heart with God….. .. The saints made great use of meditation and prayer. This is what sanctified them and made them
saints…. Prayer should be the food of a devout soul, especially the souls of
Religious. The gift of prayer is a great
gift. Prayer is the school of real
science, the science of saints.”
“It was in
prayer that the saints found light, that supernatural courage that made them
grow in the way of perfection.”
“Pray
ardently so that your movements may be guided by the Holy Spirit…. Be always
faithful to the inspirations of grace to seek God alone, and never resist the
promptings of the Holy Spirit.”
“In all our
difficulties prayer should be our great resource.”
“What I
recommend above all is not to be discouraged by the difficulties you find in
prayer. Pray and ask God to come to your
aid, to give you perseverance. Have
confidence that He will hear your prayer.”
“You think
you are not praying when you are in a state of dryness, weariness and
boredom. By tolerating and fighting
these temptations, it is an excellent prayer.”
“The best
meditation is to conform to God’s Will.”
“You
meditate in remaining perfectly calm without a word. It is the Good God who acts, not you.”
“God speaks
to His friends whenever He wants. All
times and places are suitable for prayer.
In the garden as much as in the church, you can pray, you can unite
yourself to Him and hear His voice. We
should not be astonished to have a holy inspiration in class or at recreation.”
“The
essential in prayer is to remain united to God…..Union
with God is not as difficult as you think, when one loves the Lord. The remembrance of a person loved accompanies
one everywhere. If your heart is
entirely turned towards God and the Sacred Humanity of Jesus, you see His image
a hundred times a day.”
“Nature is
beautiful; the works of God are magnificent!
It is a prayer to admire the goodness of God in such an admirable
creation. Listen to the birds singing. Contemplating the trees covered with blossoms
and fruit is not waste of time.”
“People do
not have the same inspirations in prayer; each should follow her heart’s
leading and should abandon herself with confidence.”
“May your
union with God be strengthened by the work you do for Him.”
Prayer to St.
Emilie
Saint
Emilie, you have known what it is like to be tempted to not to believe anymore,
not to pray anymore. Nevertheless, you
have always persevered on the way of faith, of prayer and of love. Help us, St. Emilie, to hold firmly to our
faith. Show us how to patiently put our
entire lives under the loving gaze of our Lord.
Help us move forward on the path of life, with the assurance that God’s
fatherly love is always there for us.
St.
Emilie, pray for us.
Novena Prayer to St. Emilie de Rodat
Foundress of the
Congregation of the Holy Family
DAY
4 - Trust and
Abandon to God - 13th September
St. Emilie relied on God for
everything, abandoning herself to Him with an audacity that defied all human
prudence, in a way that put the Gospel message into practice: “Seek first the kingdom of God and his justice, and everything else
will be added unto you.”
Let us listen to what St Emilie has
to say:
“By
experience I have learnt that Providence
is the surest of all resources, and when the project is God’s, it never fails.”
“In
the beginning of the Congregation, I made a pact with the Good Lord: I asked
Him to help me in all my material needs, that I would trust Him and that I
would always help the poor when an occasion presented itself.”
“It
pleased Divine Providence to provide for all our material needs…. We live from
day to day… in crucial moments, in the beginning of the Congregation, we place
all our trust in God and He never abandoned us.”
“Fear
not, Divine Providence has storehouses unknown to the worldly. Count on God and you will lack nothing.”
“Trust yourself to God. That is the way
a soul advances in the way of perfection and what pleases Him most.” “Have
courage. A childlike confidence obtains
everything.”
“Have
an unlimited confidence in God. Do not
count on people; they are human and could let you down when you least expect
it. God will never let you down if you
place all your trust in Him. Use human
resources, fully convinced that God alone can bless them.”
“Leave
the future to Divine Providence who conducts and rules all things well…. The
laws of Providence come before man-made law; we should always bow our head
willingly when God dictates and not protest because God has His own views in
all He does and allows.”
An
entire abandonment and a confidence without limit, that is what God asks of the
Sisters of the Holy Family.
“Ah! How pleasing to God is a soul abandoned to
His Divine Providence, who is not in the least worried about what will happen
to her, living from day to day without anxiety about her fate which she has
entrusted to God’s keeping with no thought but to please Him.”
Oh!
My God. I believe, I hope, I love and I
abandon myself to You.”
Prayer to St. Emilie
St.
Emilie, the contemplation of the Holy Family of Nazareth gave you trust,
abandonment, joy and strength.
Obtain
for us the grace, like you, to lead a life totally focussed on God in the
service of our brothers and sisters.
Amen.
St. Emilie, pray for us.
Novena Prayer to St. Emilie de
Rodat
Foundress of the Congregation
of the Holy Family
DAY 3 Love of
Charity- 12th
September
For St. Emilie, love of Charity was
central to her life. A deep and
passionate love of God has to express itself in love for others: for those with
whom we live, for our neighbours, and for the poor and needy.
Let us
listen to St Emilie’s own words:
“Our
Charity must be practical and reach out to all.
We are all brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ. Our charity must be the proof…. It must not
only be extended to the neighbourhood or to our pupils; rather, our charity
should extend to all people across the seas in a way that everyone has a place
in our hearts and share in our prayers and good works.”
“Charity is
kind, good and therefore seeks to serve.
The kind heart feels the need to do good and be helpful to all…. We
should not spare ourselves in trying to please our neighbour; we should always
do more than is asked of us; all that we do for God will be given back to us a
hundred fold.”
“Blessed
are the merciful, that is, those who endure patiently their neighbour’s
weaknesses and faults; those who share their troubles and sorrows; those who
help others as much as they are able. In
short, the merciful are those who are all things to all people. Those who act in this way will have mercy
shown them.”
“You will
experience faults of character or people you simply cannot like. Consider these with clam and peace…. Bear
with others as you would want them to bear with you if you were in their
place….. Perfect harmony should reign among the Sisters. This is achieved by tolerating one another,
bearing with one another; it requires constant attention – this is perfect
charity.”
“One thing
we shall particularly recommend is to maintain a close union by the practice of
a lively charity, so that you support with peace and gentleness the faults of
one another, so that each of our houses is the image of the house of Nazareth.”“I implore
you, love one another; you do it already, do it even more for love never says
enough.”
Prayer to
St Emilie
St.
Emilie, you who said with the words of the Apostle Paul: “Above all, charity”,
help us know how to love those with whom we live, and all people deeply. Rooted in Jesus Christ may our homes and
communities radiate His love.
You also
said: “Let your charity cross the seas”, be with us, so that in our everyday
lives we become missionaries, witnesses of God’s love wherever we are. Help us be sensitive to the voice and to the
silence of all those who are ‘far away’.
St Emilie,
pray for us.
Novena Prayer to St. Emilie de Rodat
Foundress of the Congregation of the Holy Family
DAY 2 Service of the poor 11th September
Even before St. Emilie founded the Congregation, a profound love of God and of the poor was her driving force ever since she was only a child, following the good example of several members of her family, particularly her grandmother.
“I loved the poor and experienced real pleasure in giving them alms. A pious lady, called Marianne Gombert, a dressmaker who knew my soft spot for the poor, used to take me with her somtimes to visit them. I used to give them the money I had.
One day, we had only three francs. We visited 20 poor sick people. We gave each one no less than 3 “sous”. We gave 5 or even 6 “sous” to some. When we had finished, my purse which had only 3 francs was not yet empty. Marianne exclaimed at the realisation of this multiplication of money, that it was: “Providence”!
Throughout her life, Emilie remained faithful to her first intuition: the poor are to be her priority and her love for them is to be seen as the measure of her love for God.
God considers that whatever we do for the poor, of whom he likes to call himself the Father, we do for him, and the great reward which he has planned for his faithful servants seems to be inextricably linked to the service they have given to those who are poor and suffering.”
Let us do all in our power so that we may deserve to hear these words:
“Come you blessed of my Father, for
I was hungry and you gave me to eat,
I was thirsty and you gave me to drink,
I was homeless and you put me up,
I was naked and you clothed me,
I was sick and you visited me,
I was in prison and you came to see me.”
Think of these wonderful words often and charity will abound in your hearts.”
Prayer to St. Emilie
St. Emilie, you who said, “Providence and the poor, these were my riches.” Be with us in our Day! Intercede for us, so that we may recognise Jesus, and love and serve Him in the poorest of the poor. May we, like you, put our whole trust in Christ who is our ALL!
St. Emilie, pray for us.
Novena Prayer to St. Emilie de
Rodat
Foundress of the Congregation
of the Holy Family
DAY 1 -Letting People Know and Love God 10th Sept.
A Brief
outline of the Life of St. Emilie de Rodat:
“The Saint of Rouergue” was born on the 6th September
1787 at the Castle of Druelle near Rodez
in the Region of Aveyron in France France
A deep love of God and her neighbour manifested
itself from her childhood. One day when
visiting a destitute family, her vocation became clear to her: she would devote
her life to teaching the poor children in a way that they will know and love
God. For this purpose, St Emilie was led
by God’s Providence
St. Emilie always trusted in God, she never
worried about resources. She believed
that God would always provide the means needed to accomplish His will. She encouraged her Sisters to “love, love
still more, as love never says enough”.
A balanced life between prayer and action was important to her.
Following a life of passionate love for God and
His people St. Emilie died on 19the September 1852. The people in Villefranche popularly
acclaimed her the Saint of Rouergue. She
was canonised in the Holy Year of 1950.
Thirty-six houses were founded during her life
and this extended to 200 by the end of the19th century. The religious turmoil of 1902 led to the
foundation of communities in different countries. Today the Holy Family Congregation is
establised in 14 Countries over 4 Continents.
St Emilie sought all her life to reveal the
face of the God of Love, first of all with the school children and later in her
work with deprived people. Here are some
of her deepest convictions which she shared with her first Sisters:
“Be gentle
towards children; don’t ever treat them harshly. Always show them a mother’s heart. Every time you speak to children or to any
other person, do it gently.”
“You are
responsible for visiting the sick. I
don’t need to tell you to love them, I know you do that; but we can ever do it
enough. Serve our dear sick people and
visit them with a spirit of faith and just as if you were visiting Our Lord in
person.”
“As
imitators of the divine Master, your hearts should be full of charity, of
compassion for the unfortunate victims of human passions. This charity will show itself in all you say,
and in all you do. You will have a mother’s
instincts for each of them and you will lavish your care on those who have the
greatest needs.”
“I am happy
to think that you do all in your power to make the best of Masters known and
loved.”
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